Ellis Lucia/The Times-Picayune archiveBells such as these were sold by East Jefferson firefighters, ostensibly for a firefighter charity fund, but the money ended up in a private credit union account

The firefighter who surrendered almost $18,000 in charitable donations to Jefferson Parish officials this month had kept the cash in a tackle box since Hurricane Katrina, an attorney for the firefighters union said Thursday.

Bonura's actions came to light amid an investigation into the Fire Department's annual charity drive, known as the "bell fund" as well as the "tragedy fund."

It began in 2002, following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and later evolved into a post-Katrina relief effort. Firefighters sold miniature bells for $3 apiece. The money, they said, was meant to help the families of firefighters who died, got sick or suffered an injury.

However, there was no official accounting for the fund, which was registered under a personal Social Security number at a credit union, parish officials said. And no firefighter who requested help from the fund ever received any money.

Robein confirmed Bonura's name after firefighters and investigators, speaking on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to comment, mentioned his connection to the case.

The attorney said Bonura was holding onto $17,985 in denominations no larger than $100 bills because of his relationship with Kathy Donovan, a Fire Department employee who handled the money accounts for the department. Donovan's name appears on public records, released Wednesday by parish officials, that show the credit union account had more than $39,000 in it in March.

Donovan could not be reached Thursday.

Robein said Bonura held onto the money in the chaos following Katrina. In early April, after learning of investigations into the bell fund, he took the money to Jefferson Parish Firefighters Association officials. They turned it over to Robein's law firm, which sent the money to the parish attorney's office, Robein said.

Parish officials said they have put the money in an escrow account while the investigations continue. Both the legislative auditor and parish attorney Tom Wilkinson have said they would complete their work in the next few weeks.

Wilkinson would not comment publicly Thursday about the cash or the people involved.

Bonura is the treasurer and secretary for the firefighters union, but Robein and union President Bob Burkett said their group has nothing to do with charity fund or Bonura's actions in keeping the money for more than three years.

"He got himself into this situation, and the union thought -- and I thought, correctly -- to turn this over," Robein said.

Burkett said he welcomes the investigations. He said he does not want the possibility of wrongdoing by one union member to reflect poorly on the group as a whole.

"The union wants to make sure this program is on the up and up and helps firefighters," he said. . . . . . . .

Richard Rainey can be reached at rrainey@timespicayune.com or 504.883.7052.